The flow computer devices are used in the oil and gas industries for the measurement of liquid and gas supplies. Flow computers take inputs from flow meters, temperature transmitters, and pressure transmitters, and then calculate exact flow of liquid or gas running through the pipelines. It calculates the exact amount of flow with the help of the interfaced devices and records the data, important events, and alarms. Then, that data is transferred to external computers or workstations for inspecting, managing, and accounting. The oil and gas resources are expensive; therefore, their accurate measurement becomes inevitable. The flow computers are, therefore, required in oil and gas sectors at multiple points for accurate flow computing and for reliable flow measurement, monitoring, and control. The market is estimated to reach USD 1.04 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 5.5% between 2015 and 2020.

The flow computer market is driven by the three major drivers including increased need for technologically advanced and reliable flow computing systems, improved data computational capacity of flow computers, and suitability in many functions of the oil and gas industry. There is a restraining factor, that is, limiting the growth of flow computers market. This factor is declining oil & gas prices that affect the infrastructure-related investments in oil and gas sectors adversely which ultimately affects the market for flow computers. However, there exists some business opportunities for this market including prospective growth in the flow computing software market and growing implementation of process automation in the oil and gas industry.

This report segments the flow computer market into the components: hardware, software, and support services. In the hardware segment, the market size is estimated for the flow computer device that contributes the largest share in the market. The software component includes the market for independent flow computing application software solutions. The software market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 8.0% between 2015 and 2020. The support services segment includes market analysis of repairs and maintenance services for flow computers. The report further segments the market on the basis of operations: upstream, midstream and downstream. In the upstream operations, the flow computers are installed on the upstream production or exploration point such as well heads and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) points, whereas in the midstream and downstream operations segment, the computers are used in pipelines and refineries for metering, meter proving, ticketing, valve controlling, batching, product interfacing, custody transfer, and for other such billing activities.

The report analyzes the flow computer market in various regions such as North America, Europe, Middle East, APAC, and Rest of the World. The North American region accounted for the largest market share in 2014, and it is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR of 6.3% between 2015 and 2020. There are many companies present in the flow computer market including Krohne Messtechnik GmbH (Germany), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (U.S.), Kessler-Ellis Products Co., Inc. (U.S.), FMC Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), Emerson Electric Co. (U.S.), Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Japan), OMNI Flow Computers, Inc. (U.S.), Dynamic Flow Computers Inc. (U.S.), Schneider Electric SA (France), ABB Group (Switzerland), Cameron International Corporation (U.S.), Honeywell International, Inc. (U.S.), and Contrec Europe Limited (U.K.) among others.

Scope of the Report:

This research report categorizes the global flow computer market, based on components, operations, and geographies. Additionally, it also estimates and forecasts the market size of flow computer.

Market, by Component:

In this report, the flow computer market is segmented on the basis of three major components: hardware, software, and support services.

Market, by Operation:

The flow computer market is segmented on the basis of operations. It includes upstream and midstream & downstream operations.

Market, by Geography:

The report analyzes the flow computer market in various regions such as North America, Europe, Middle East, APAC, and Rest of the World. The country-level analysis is also provided in the report.

The flow computer is one of the important devices in the flow measurement, monitoring, and control process. It calculates the corrected flow of liquid and gas, based on the signals from flow meters, pressure transmitters, and from temperature transmitters. In the oil and gas sectors, flow computers are used for different functions such as liquid & gas measurement, wellhead measurement and optimization, custody transfer and control, fuel monitoring, fiscal flow metering, flow meter proving, pipeline transmission and distribution, supplies loading, and in other billing and calculation functions. The flow computer market was valued at USD 727.7 Million in 2014, and it is estimated to reach USD 1.04 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 5.5% between 2015 and 2020. The major driving factors for the market are increased need for technologically advanced and reliable flow computing systems, improved data computational capacity of flow computers, and its suitability in many functions of the oil and gas industry.

The flow computer market is majorly divided into three segments: components, operations, and geographies.

The component segment includes hardware, software, and support services. The hardware component includes the market size of flow computer devices that are being installed on the different operation points for different functions. The hardware component held the largest share of ~83% of the flow computer market in 2014. The flow computer market is further segmented on the basis of operations: upstream and midstream & downstream. In the upstream operations segment, the flow computers are installed on the wellheads, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) injection points, and at other production points. In the midstream and downstream operations, the flow computers are used for metering, meter proving, ticketing, valve control, batching, custody transfer, and supplies billing. The upstream segment is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.0% between 2015 and 2020. The midstream and downstream segment accounted for the largest share of ~58% in 2014.

In the geography segmentation, the report covers North America, Europe, Middle East, APAC, and RoW. The North American region accounted for the largest market share of ~35% in 2014. North America is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR of 6.3% between 2015 and 2020. The U.S. is a major country with the largest share of the flow computer market globally.